Con and I had our 13th wedding anniversary on July 14. I was nostalgic all day, remembering our wedding. How everything has changed since then, especially the kids! Baby-faced Brent was a small 6 year old, and was our "flower boy", Brandon, 9 years, and our "Bible boy", and Juddy and Josh, 12 and 13, were Conrad's Best Men. My sister was my matron of honor, and she put a huge white bow on the front of Dad's scooter, and he accompanied me up the aisle. All the guys matched in black suits with dark green ties. I wore my mom's wedding dress that my sister Margy had tea stained and embellished all over with tiny, pearl-like beads. Margy also curled and put up my long hair.
We were married in the Titusville church I grew up in. I was so touched that many of my friends drove 2 hours to be at my wedding. My brother-in-law, who is director of Food Services at the hospital, provided food and all the related dishes, so the food was amazing (I was too busy and stressed to actually eat). My sister, who is a brilliant decorator, made my gorgeous cake. I just wanted a help-yourself buffet, but my family wanted to be involved, so they served the guests. It was a nice touch. My mom and Con's mom made potato salad together, and we bought local famous hot wings. The Titusville pastor, James Rodrigues, married us, and his talented wife, Bonnie, played the keyboard...for a long time, since Con forgot his suit and had to run back home to get it! We spent our wedding night at a place Conrad arranged for, The Inn at Cocoa Beach. It was such a beautiful bed-and-breakfast that we went back there for two of our anniversaries.
It was ironic that when I moved over here a few months later from Zephyrhills, the Titusville pastor who married us moved to Zephyrhills to become their new pastor. It's also ironic that Con and I are now members of the church we were married in. Funny how life turns out.
My mind also ran over other notable anniversaries. We had one that still makes me laugh. We spent our anniversary working on the yard, and were so tired, hot and sweaty that at the end of the day that we didn't even feel like driving as far as Merritt Island to find a restaurant for our date. Conrad had eaten at a place in Titusville that he thought I'd love, so we got cleaned up and went up there, but it was closed. I think it was only opened for lunch during the week. So we spent the next hour driving around and around Titusville, and we finally ended up at a Perkins (or something like that). It wasn't the special place with special food that we were looking for, but I remember the food was actually good, and although it wasn't a romantic atmosphere, it was really wonderful just being alone on a date with my husband whom I love so deeply.
